Poor is the new rich

last updated 8 January 2015

Berlin

An aristocrat’s guide to living a genteel life on little money topped Germany’s best-seller list this week, a reflection of the country’s dismal economy. In The Art of Stylish Poverty, Count Alexander von Schönburg-Glachau attempts to teach average Germans how to cope with being what he calls “nouveaux pauvres.” Secrets include using pretty coverlets to camouflage IKEA furniture and “mentally reclassifying” used clothes as vintage. “In my family, being poor is something of a tradition,” the count said. “Five hundred years ago we were very rich, but it’s been downhill since then.” The unemployment rate in Germany hit 12 percent this year, the highest since just after World War II.